Rule of law in action

It is critical to engage citizens in internalising the role of the rule of law as the foundation of our very existence. We won’t move forward should we either allow binary mindsets and partisan politics overwhelm us or continue to resort to tokenism.

Granted the respect and trust women and men at the top of institutions command is key. The relevance of leading by example can never be more emphasised. Mutual cynicism is not productive, is it? However the concept of rule of law is much more far-reaching. Ultimately, what matters is “how the rule of law is experienced in practical, everyday situations by ordinary people.”

To measure this “experience”, the World Justice Project’s *Rule of Law Index assesses the performance of countries “using 44 indicators across 8 categories, each of which is scored and ranked globally and against regional and income peers: Constraints on Government Powers, Absence of Corruption, Open Government, Fundamental Rights, Order and Security, Regulatory Enforcement, Civil Justice, and Criminal Justice.”

According to the latest index the top performers are (Mauritius has not been surveyed yet):